


Children of the Lion Goddess

by RukiaG



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Mythology/Religion, Gen, Original Mythology, Sentient Voltron Lions, Shiro needs a break, based on fanart, not as serious as it seems
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2019-02-03 05:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12742332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RukiaG/pseuds/RukiaG
Summary: Altean mythology claims that the Lion Goddess created the Universe, and that her four children protect Altea of all evil. However, Altea and its solar system is long gone, its people hunted down and slaughtered by order of Emperor Zarkon, its culture eradicated and its gods forgotten.Forgotten, but not dead, and soon the Voltron Paladins will find out that some traces of Altea still remain.Or: Team Voltron finds an Altean temple and somehow Shiro is adopted by a magical space lioness.





	Children of the Lion Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this fanart https://pentapoda.tumblr.com/post/148954810823/space-lions-due-to-unforeseen-circumstances-now by pentapoda on tumblr, and set somewhere between Space Mall and the end of season 2. This was going to be a quick one-shot, but I loved the idea way too much and now I’m seriously considering turning it into a multichapter story, if people are interested ;)  
> Also, I used the tumblr theory that lions are like space unicorns. And btw, why does everyone just assume all the Lions are female? I’m pretty sure the characters refer to the Black Lion as it, but anyways Black will be female here for the sake of fictional mythology. Hope you enjoy!

_In the middle of Chaos, the Lion Goddess opened her eyes._

_Before Time began, before the Universe was born, the Lion Goddess wandered through the Void, and in her wake Chaos became Order._

_Finally, the Goddess found the Golden Fountain, source of all Quintessence, and drank its nectar and bathed in its light. When she emerged from the Fountain, the Quintessence dripped from her fur, forming a pool at her feet; it ignited, and thus the Sun was born. The Goddess shook herself and the little drops still on her fur scattered through the Universe, and thus the stars were born._

_Then, the Lion Goddess lied down and closed her eyes for thousands of years, and her fur grew so long and thick, it formed a planet._

_And then, the Lion Goddess opened her eyes and roared, with a voice so loud its echoes reached every corner of the Void, every plane of Reality, every tick of Time. From her womb, four cubs were born: Ryther, Bensa, Yukeon and Gidara. They welcomed their new life with laughter and the Lion Goddess cried tears of joy, for she wasn’t alone anymore._

_The tears became rivers, lakes and seas, and the cubs’ laughter were seeds of life from which soft grass and tall trees grew, and the Goddess and her children rejoiced, for they finally had a home._

_Fragment of “Myths and Legends of Altea”, by Professor Dennal Iteius._

* * *

 

At that time of the day the Castle of Lions was quiet. It was after lunch and before afternoon training, when the Paladins had a few free vargas to rest. Shiro had intended to take a nap, because he barely slept lately, but after tossing restlessly he had given up and taken his tablet. He was studying Altean grammar when he heard Allura’s voice through the speakers.

“Paladins, come to the bridge, now!”

Shiro jumped out of his bed and rushed out of his bedroom, before realizing something unusual. Allura didn’t use her ‘emergency voice’, the one that usually meant there was a Galra battleship near. She sounded almost… excited. Maybe he didn’t need to put on his armour, he thought, and headed directly to the bridge.

Shiro found the rest of the team on the way to the bridge. They had been spending more free time together, which was a nice contrast to their first days at the Castle, when they would prefer to be alone while on a break. That Keith wouldn’t exhaust himself on the training deck or be in the same room as Lance for more than five minutes without bickering was a welcomed bonus, too.

Allura and Coran were hunched over a screen, chattering excitedly.

“Princess, is everything alright?”

Allura looked up, giving the Paladins a bright smile.

“We found the Holy Sky Temple of the Lion Goddess!”

The Paladins looked at each other. Lance arched an eyebrow.

“The what?”

“Wait, that rings a bell.” Hunk tilted his head. “Didn’t the Arusians think _you_ were the Lion Goddess?”

“Well, that was quite a misunderstanding.” Allura waved a hand. “The Lion Goddess was Altea’s main deity long ago. I mean…” Her face darkened for a tick. “Long before the war.”

“Legends say the Lion Goddess created the universe.” Coran added. “The Ancients believed that the four moons of Altea were her children, and that they protected our planet.” Coran twirled his moustache. “Of course, after space travel became possible for Alteans, we confirmed the moons were just celestial bodies, and that the belief of a single deity creating the universe was likely wrong.”

“But your people launched a space temple.” Pidge pointed out.

“Yes, it was one of the first attempts at deep space travel.” Allura said. “At first it was just a spaceship with a fancy name. Then it became outdated when our technology improved, and instead of being recycled, it became sort of a museum for ancient religious artefacts. The last priests of Altea used to move there when they retired.”

“Like a space monastery?” Lance asked.

“I guess, I don’t know what a ‘monastery’ is.” Allura shrugged. “Anyway, it’s a wonder the Temple wasn’t destroyed during the war. We should go and check if there’s anything important left on it.”

“Are we sure it isn’t a Galra trap?” Keith asked.

“It doesn’t seem likely.” Coran answered. “The Castle picked the Temple’s signature code. It’s in High Altean, and even before the war few scholars bothered to learn it.” He chuckled. “I took a few classes when I was young and we were like, only five students. I was quite good, actually. The only reason I didn’t get a perfect score on the final exam was because we had to translate a philosophy text by Draia Kelsedos instead of the History Chronicles by Epher Engullem. You see, we studied the Chronicles for ten weeks and Kelsedos for only four, I still can’t believe…”

“Do you still remember your High Altean lessons?” Allura cut him. Coran, slightly annoyed at the interruption, twirled his moustache.

“Well, yes. I’m not fluent, but I think I could understand it.”

“Then you’re coming with us, Coran.”

“Uh… Should we really leave the Castle empty?” Hunk asked.

“It has automatic defences, and this quadrant it’s inhabited.” Allura explained. “There aren’t signals of Galra near either, so it should be safe.”

Pidge, who had been studying the data gathered of the Temple, said:

“That Temple seems to be much smaller than the Castle. I’m not sure if we can land all the Lions on it. Should we bring only one or two?”

She looked at Shiro. He was staring at the screen, brow furrowed, an absent expression in his eyes. He could hear the Black Lion on the back of his mind, rumbling insistently, sounding oddly eager to go to the Temple.

“Shiro?”

He startled and looked up. Everyone was watching him with a bit of worry.

“Sorry, I was… Just deep in thought.” He shook his head and tried to focus. “We should go in the Black and Green Lions, just in case something happens. Green can bring you guys back to the Castle while I cover you.”

Allura nodded.

“Very well. Suit up, I’ll open a wormhole to the Temple, and we’ll be there in no time.”

* * *

 

The Temple was oddly familiar, with its slender outline, white walls and faint blue lights, and yet its style was rough, as if the people who built it knew what they wanted to do, but lacked the ability or practice to do it right.

Once inside, Allura pressed a panel and the lights flickered, hesitantly turning on. Somewhere above them, a fan started to spin. Soon they were able to take off their helmets.

The hall was an octagonal room, large but not as much as the Castle’s main entrance. Three corridors parted from it: one to the right, one to the left, and one straight from the entrance that ended on a tall staircase. Coran inspected the words carved on the walls of the hall. Shiro didn’t recognize any of them.

“High Altean?”

“Yes. This looks like a traditional prayer in honour of the Lion Goddess.” Coran pointed at the first words. “ _All hail the High One, Mother of Life, Dream Walker, Golden Light, Star Maker, Fountain of Beauty, Source of Wisdom…_ ”

“Coran, skip the epithets, we don’t have all day.” Allura looked around, wonder and longing clear on her eyes. “It’s a miracle this temple hasn’t been destroyed. We must find every relic here and store them safely in the Castle.”

“Cool, we’re like Indiana Jones!” Lance smirked, then his expression became a bit alarmed. “Wait, what if there’re death traps?”

Pidge rolled her eyes.

“Lance, this was supposed to be a museum. And we aren’t in an Indiana Jones movie.”

“But those priests were there for a long time, right?” Hunk said. “What if they set up traps? I don’t want to be crushed by a rock!”

Coran twirled his moustache, quickly looking through the writings on the wall.

“Well, I don’t know what an ‘Indiana Jones’ is, but I could check if there are some warnings here.”

“Thank you, Coran” Shiro said, switching his weight from one foot to the other. He felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck, as if someone was watching him, but any time he turned around, no one was looking at him. Pidge and Hunk were checking out the temple’s technologies, Coran hadn’t looked up from the writings, and Allura, Keith and Lance were looking at a painting on the other side of the room.

The painting pictured a beautiful Altean woman, dressed in a light blue dress with black embroideries, blue marks under her eyes and straight indigo hair. At her side, an Altean man bowed to her. He looked oddly familiar, with his dark skin, white hair and purple marks.

“Who’s that?” Keith asked. Lance pointed at the man.

“He looks like your dad, Allura.”

“He’s Alrod the Great.” The Princess answered. “He united Altea and stablished the royal family. Legend says he married one of the Lion Goddess’ daughters.”

Keith frowned.

“Didn’t you say her children were Altea’s moons?”

“Yes, but legends claim they could take Altean forms. The eldest daughter was especially fond of walking among mortals.” Allura pointed at the woman. “One day, Bensa met Alrod, and they fell in love. They got married and ruled Altea for five thousand years, and had five hundred children. Finally, Alrod died, and Bensa was so heartbroken, she abandoned her mortal body and came back to her family, but she was still so devastated, she froze over, and since then she’s known as Bensa of the Frozen Heart. The full story is told in _The ballad of Bensa and Alrod_ , one of Altea’s oldest books.”

“Wow.” Lance whistled. “That sounds like quite an epic story.”

“Of course, it’s only a myth. Investigations on the moon Bensa proved that it had been frozen for thousands of years before Alrod was born.”

“…And you killed the mood.”

Shiro looked over his friends’ shoulders. On the painting, Bensa seemed to watch him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. He felt a soft puff of air against his neck and turned around. The three corridors that parted from the hall were covered in darkness, and the old, cold lights barely gleamed with a faint blue that just made the shadows larger. Shiro could swear he heard the Black Lion’s voice coming from the middle corridor, a soft, urgent rumble beckoning him to move forward.

“Wow.” Hunk pressed a few buttons on a panel. “This technology may be outdated for Alteans, but it’s still more advanced than anything we have on Earth.”

“Yeah, we have to bring some samples back to the Castle.” Pidge added, grinning like a child in a candy store.

“Guys, be careful to not break anything.” Shiro said. Pidge blinked, a bit surprised. Shiro rubbed his neck, he hadn’t intended to sound so harsh, but that feeling of being watched was driving him insane. Maybe he should inspect that suspicious corridor, just to make sure there wasn’t anything dangerous.

“Hey, I think I got something!”

The team looked at Coran, who was brushing some words with his fingers. Allura looked over his shoulder.

“What’s that?”

“A warning.” Coran cleared his throat and translated. “ _Be careful, you who walk between stars. Be careful, for your voice shall not be heard by those who live…_ uh… in space? Or maybe it’s in dreams.”

“How can you not know if it’s dreams or space?” Keith scowled. Coran just shrugged.

“The Ancients believed their souls travelled to space when they were asleep, so the words for ‘space’ and ‘dream’ are the same. And for ‘night sky’ too, but from the context…”

“Coran, does it say anything else that may be relevant?” Allura cut him.

“Just something about the space… or dream… something between realities. And again, that bit about not speaking.”

“So we just can’t speak to strangers?” Lance seemed a bit disappointed. “My mother already told me that when I was five.”

“A space between realities…” Pidge frowned. “Didn’t Shiro tell us that he fought Zarkon in some kind of astral plane?”

“Wait.” Keith looked around, alarm in his face. “Where is Shiro?”

Indeed, the Black Paladin was missing. Again.

“Shiro?” Pidge called. No one answered.

“Shiro!” Keith shouted. He seemed about to have a panic attack.

“Calm down, he can’t be far.” Allura looked around. “He left his helmet here, so he can’t be outside. Maybe he followed one of the corridors.”

“It can’t be the right one.” Hunk said. “I was looking in that direction and I didn’t see him.”

“Last time I saw him he was standing between Coran and Pidge.” Lance added. “So he would have walked past me if he took the left corridor. Which means…”

They turned to the central corridor. All at once, they started to run.

They climbed the stairs at the end of the corridor, only to find another one that went straight for a while until it reached a large room. Long ago, it must have been the control bridge, but now there was a large, pentagonal dais that looked a bit like an altar, and a few dusty monitors right beside the stairs that led to it. And in the middle of the dais…

Allura and Coran froze. Lance shrieked, Pidge gasped, and Keith drew his sword and tried to lunge forward, but Hunk stopped him.

They had found Shiro, and he wasn’t alone.

* * *

 

Shiro opened his eyes, blinking slowly. Above him, and endless canopy of stars shone with a gentle gleam.

He sat up and looked around. This place… How did he get here? It looked like the dimension where he fought Zarkon. But he noticed tiny differences: even if he was sitting, there wasn’t a tangible ground beneath him, everything around him being a void scattered with stars, and his body seemed made of a soft purple glow, but unlike the last time, it felt weightless and distant.

“Meow?”

Shiro almost jumped out of his skin and looked down. At his side, a cat was looking at him. It was made of the same purple glow as him, and had bright golden eyes that studied him from head to toe.

“Uh… Hi.”

“Meow!”

The cat wagged its tail. For some unknown reason it seemed delighted with Shiro’s lame greeting, and it leapt on his lap.

“Hey, wow!” The cat nuzzled him. “Well, you’re a cuddly one, aren’t you?”

(He didn’t coo. He was a grown man, the Black Paladin, leader of Voltron, he didn’t coo over kitties, not matter how cute and adorable they were.)

Shiro petted the cat and it purred, curling up on his lap.

“I guess you don’t know where I am, do you?”

“Meow.”

It sounded like a ‘who cares’. Shiro chuckled and rubbed behind the cat’s ears. It purred again, a deep sound that echoed inside his chest.

“…iro!”

Shiro looked up. Wasn’t that Keith’s voice?

“Shiro!”

Something tugged at the back of his mind. He could hear the voices of his teammates, as if they were very close.

“Are you awake, Shiro?”

His eyelids flickered and Shiro opened his eyes slowly. He stared at his teammates, looking a bit drowsy and confused. He was lying on something soft and warm, and his friends looked at him with fear.

“Shiro, don’t panic, you’re okay!” Coran paused. “Well, we think.”

“Uh?” Why wouldn’t he be okay? He felt quite well.

“Shiro.” Allura took a deep breath. “This is important. Have you been back to the astral plane?”

“I think so. Why? What…?”

Right behind him, _something_ growled.

Shiro shut up, eyes wide open. Coran paled and Allura gulped. Lance shrieked, and Hunk struggled to restrain Keith, who had his bayard in his hand and looked ready to murder someone. Pidge took a step forward towards the monitor that beeped softly near Shiro. The growl sounded again, deeper, clearly menacing, and then Shiro saw the paws around him, claws hard as diamond ripping easily the steel beneath them.

“Pidge, don’t go closer to the monitors! Lance, stop shrieking and help Hunk restrain Keith! Keith, put the sword down!” Keith frowned, but obeyed, and Allura steadied herself. Her hands trembled. “Okay, Shiro, now look at me, please. When you were in the astral plane, did you remember _not_ to speak to anything you encountered there?”

“Uh…” Shiro recalled Coran reading something about a warning, but he was exploring the corridor and then… and then… What happened then? How did he end up on the astral plane? And well, he did speak to a cat, but surely it couldn’t be so bad, right?

Behind him, that _something_ growled again. Shiro felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise with the primal instinct of running from a threat.

“Um…” How was he going to explain that he spoke to a cute little cat? Allura facepalmed, apparently reading his mind. Coran was even paler now, but he tried to lighten the mood.

“On the bright side, with a bit of luck, you’ll probably survive!”

Shiro gulped and steadied himself. It was time to know exactly what was going on. Slowly, he looked behind him.

He was lying right against a gigantic lion, its fur as black as the deeps of space, shining golden eyes and teeth bared in a menacing growl. His breath caught in his throat and, out of instinct, Shiro tried to get away from it. Which only brought the lion’s attention from his teammates back to Shiro.

Golden eyes locked with his dark ones, and Shiro gasped. There was something familiar, something warm and close and longing in those eyes, and when Shiro felt the rumble on the back of his mind, he knew.

“Black?”

* * *

 

“Okay, let me get this straight.” Lance ran a hand through his hair. “So you think this lioness is either the physical manifestation of the Black Lion, or the avatar of the Lion Goddess.”

They were still on the Temple’s control bridge, and it had taken the team the last half varga to convince the lioness to let them get close to Shiro without her growling at them as if she was going to rip off their heads. Meanwhile, Shiro had tried to explain the uncanny feeling that said lioness was Voltron’s Black Lion, which was even harder to do since the lioness kept on cuddling him as if he was her cub. Shiro had faced unimaginable dangers on the last year, and few things could distract him. A huge lion strong enough to tear steel and who didn’t stop nuzzling him was one of those.

“Look, I don’t know how to explain it.” Shiro said. Black rested her head on his shoulder, purring loudly, and her whiskers tickled his neck. Shiro tried to move to a more comfortable position, to no avail. “But I feel something like the first time we formed Voltron, or when I bond with Black. And Coran said this ship was built in honour of the Lion Goddess, it can’t be a coincidence that we found a lioness here.”

“Maybe she’s both the Black Lion _and_ the Lion Goddess.” Hunk pointed out. “For what Allura told us, it seems her father was inspired by Altean mythology to build the Lions.”

“Wait a tick. How are you guys so sure that it’s a female?” Pidge asked.

“Well, only male lions have manes, and she doesn’t have any.”

“You can’t be sure about that.” Allura said. “Lions are mythological creatures, they aren’t supposed to exist anyways.”

The humans stared at her.

“Uh… There are lions on Earth.” Hunk said slowly.

“…What?”

Coran just winced. Both Alteans had stopped asking about Earth’s fauna after Lance and Pidge tried to explain them what a platypus is.

“Anyway, mountain lions don’t have manes, so maybe space lions don’t have either.” Pidge said, unwilling to get sidetracked. Keith frowned.

“You mean cougars? I don’t think they’re exactly lions.”

“Those are like pumas, right?” Lance asked.

“Cougars _are_ pumas!”

“How can you be so sure? Did you study zoology?”

“Guys, that doesn’t matter now.” Shiro cut them. He tried to get between them, but Black kept him firmly trapped against her. She didn’t growl menacingly anymore, but she didn’t let Shiro go, as if he were an unruly kitten with the bad habit of wandering far from his mother.

“Right, what we do with the space lion?” Hunk asked, looking at the Alteans. “Do you guys know of some legend or myth or whatever about magical creatures suddenly showing up?”

“I don’t know.” Allura hesitated. “Legends claim that the children of the Lion Goddess could take Altean forms, but I don’t remember any mention of them looking like actual lions. And the Goddess never took a mortal form, so…”

“Maybe it isn’t a supernatural creature.” Keith said.

“And it’s been in this temple ten thousand years all alone?” Pidge arched an eyebrow. “That doesn’t seem likely.”

“And an ancient deity is more likely?”

“I didn’t say that! But if we can materialize our bayards, maybe that lion is a creature that can materialize too. Allura said that priests lived here for a long time after the ship became an actual temple, and they carved those warnings on the hall, so they probably knew about this transreality creature.”

“So, we are on a Stephen King kinda story, and not an Indiana Jones movie?” Lance asked. Pidge rolled her eyes. Hunk tilted his head.

“I don’t think so, she isn’t that scary.”

Lance arched an eyebrow.

“How can a gigantic transreality space lioness _not_ be scary?”

“I mean, not as scary as a Stephen King story.”

“They aren’t that scary.”

“I don’t know, man, I never watch horror movies. But I saw the trailer of _It_ and I couldn’t sleep for a week.”

“The new version for the 100th anniversary? It isn’t even half as scary as the 2017 version! They didn’t even do the clown right!”

“Wait.” Keith cut them. “How can a movie with a clown be scary?”

Lance glared at him.

“You know nothing about XXI century movies, right?”

“Guys!” Shiro yelled, almost drowning in black fur. “It’s not the time to discuss about movies!”

The Alteans, who had been quite lost for the last few minutes, couldn’t agree more. Coran stroked his chin.

“Maybe you could ask her to release you? Whatever this lioness is, she seems to be sentient. A nice ‘please’ can’t hurt.”

Well, finally a good idea. Shiro turned as much as he could to look the lioness in the eye, and took a deep breath.

“Listen, Black… Could you release me, please?”

Black tilted her head, looking at Shiro intently. And then, she licked him. Shiro yelped.

“What are you doing?!”

Pidge adjusted her glasses.

“Maybe she thinks you need a bath.”

Shiro struggled to get free of Black’s vice like grip, who just kept on grooming him.

“Look, I… Ugh! I already took a shower this morning!” Black licked his face, and his white lock of hair stuck out in every direction. Hunk grinned, Lance tried to supress a snicker, and Pidge didn’t even bother to try.

Allura sighed.

“We are getting nowhere with this.”

“And it’s getting late.” Coran pointed out. “At this rate, we won’t be able to be back at the Castle in time for dinner.”

At this, Black looked up, and she let out a soft, displeased growl. Keith huffed, already fed up with the whole situation.

“What’s wrong now?”

“Is she mad because we want to leave?” Hunk wondered.

“Wait a tick, I think I have an idea.” Coran took a few steps forward and bowed, his forehead almost touching his knees. “O High One, Mother of Life, would you bestow us poor mortals the honour of your mighty presence for dinner at our humble home? Our food may be unworthy of your fine palate, but we will be elated if you grace us with your presence.”

Black tilted her head, staring intently at the advisor, and finally, she nodded. She stood up and grabbed the back of Shiro’s armour with her teeth.

“Whoa, wait! I can walk!”

Black ignored him. She descended the dais, sauntering past the Paladins while carrying Shiro like a kitten. The rest of team Voltron looked at each other, and then followed the lioness towards the hall.

“Okay, now the transreality magical space lioness will be our guest.” Hunk looked at Allura. “Then what are we gonna do with her after dinner?”

The princess shrugged.

“We could inspect the Temple for clues, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to send her back to wherever she came from. She doesn’t seem willing to leave Shiro.”

“Maybe we should keep her.” Lance said. Keith groaned.

“We already have a cow. And the space mice. Just how many pets do you want?”

“But she’s quite cute, and seems like she had adopted Shiro, which is adorable. Right, Shiro?” The Black Paladin glared at him. Shiro had realized the futility of his struggle and just let Black carry him without complaining. Suddenly, a mischievous grin spread through Lance’s face. “Hey, I just realized something. If Shiro is our Space Dad, and Black adopted him, that means…”

“Lance, don’t…”

“…Black is our Space Grandma!”

“…And he did.” Shiro groaned, running a hand through his hair. It had been a long day, and he had the feeling Lance would never let him forget it.

They were back at the hall, and Pidge looked longingly at the technology.

“So, can’t we bring some of this stuff back to the Castle?”

“We’ll be back tomorrow.” Allura said. “We’ve had enough emotions for one day, we should take a break and come back when we’ve rested. Also, we should be more careful from now on.”

The team agreed. Keith handed Shiro his helmet, and the Black Paladin looked up at the lioness.

“You know you have to release me so I can pilot the Lion, right?”

The lioness let out a displeased sound, but placed Shiro on the ground. He sighed, relieved, and wondered just how they were going to fit Black in one of the Voltron Lions.

* * *

 

Most of the team went back to the Castle of Lions on Green, partly because the lioness seemed quite territorial about the Black Lion, and partly because no one wanted to be in such a close space with a huge overprotective lioness. Shiro sat on the cockpit, with the lioness curling up behind his seat. She seemed hellbent on keeping an eye on him all the time, and Shiro still didn’t know what to feel about it. He heard a rumble on the back of his head, but he couldn’t tell if it came from Black the Voltron Lion, or Black the space lioness. Probably both.

Once on the hangar, Black paced around as Shiro put away his armour, sniffing everything with obvious curiosity. Once Shiro was in his casual clothes, she followed him to the dining room. Everyone was already there, helping serve the food goo for dinner. Black sniffed it and made a displeased sound.

“Anyone knows what do space lions eat?” Hunk asked. “I think we have some meat left on the fridge from that planet we were in last week.”

On the table, the space mice were running around the dishes. Black glanced at them with a hungry look in her eyes and crouched down, ready to pounce. The mice squeaked and hid behind Allura.

“No, Black.” Shiro put a hand on her back. “The mice aren’t food.”

Black tilted her head, but sat up and groomed her paw innocently. Hunk hurried to get some meat.

The team sat down, and they were about to start eating, when Black tore off a piece of meat and let it fall on Shiro’s plate. They all stared at the raw, orange lump of flesh with different amounts of horror. Shiro cleared his throat.

“Uh, thanks for sharing your food, but there’s no need to. I’ll just eat food goo like everyone else.”

Black huffed, looking at him in a way that in intergalactic mom language roughly translates as ‘you’ll eat all your dinner, young man, or you’ll be grounded for a week’. Shiro didn’t give in. He’d already been bossed around enough for one day.

“Look, I know you have good intentions, but humans usually don’t eat raw meat. The food goo is better for us, I promise.”

Black let out a low growl. Shiro sighed.

“How about I eat two plates of goo, would that be enough food?”

Black still didn’t look happy, but took the piece of meat and munched it, sharp teeth easily ripping it apart. Shiro tried to not look at her, and served himself more goo.

“Well…” Hunk broke the silence. “On the bright side, she made Shiro eat more… No offense, but usually you don’t eat much.”

Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. He couldn’t deny that. Lance smirked.

“Yeah, Shiro, you should listen to your mom.”

“She isn’t my mom, and I’m not a child.”

“But you’re six!”

Shiro sighed. He had been doing that a lot lately.

“I thought we were done with all those ‘Shiro is six’ jokes.”

“Nope!” Lance grinned. “We’ll never be done with them.”

The rest of the dinner passed quite smoothly, all of them being too tired to argue or even talk about something beyond some trivial matters. Shiro could feel Black’s eyes on the back of his head, and he made sure to eat a healthy amount of goo.

Coran offered to clean up the table, and the Paladins went to their bedrooms. Shiro wasn’t surprised that Black sauntered behind him. He already was getting used to her presence. He even let out a chuckle when Black almost got stuck on the doorframe. He’d have to tell Coran how his grandfather obviously didn’t think about big cats strolling around the Castle when he built it.

While Black examined the bedroom, Shiro pulled out the desk from the wall. He still had to check the reports about the Temple that Allura and Coran gathered. It was going to take him a while, even when the Altean-English dictionary Pidge had made, the five humans still had trouble reading the alien characters. A chair emerged from the floor, but before he could sit down, Black pushed the desk back in the wall.

“What’s wrong now?”

Black huffed and pointed at the bed. Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose. Looks like he now had a bedtime too.

“Look, I appreciate your concern, but I’m not a child, regardless of what Lance says.”

Black just stared at him with a disapproving look. She had quite expressive eyes for a lion. Shiro sighed.

“Okay, fine, I’m going to bed.”

Black nodded smugly and followed him. When Shiro sat down on the bed, she tugged at his boot with her teeth.

“Wait, you’re going to rip off my foot.” He took off his boots and his belt. “Here, better now?”

She rested a paw on his chest and pushed softly. Shiro lied down and Black grabbed the blanket with her teeth, pulling it over her human. Shiro chuckled. They were making quite a spectacle, such a pity they didn’t have a camera. Cat videos had been popular on social media for a whole century, and he wondered what people would think of a gigantic lion treating him like her cub.

“Well, I’m already tucked in. Happy now?”

Black studied her work intently and suddenly, she leapt on the bed, the mattress creaking under her weight. Carefully, as to not step on him, the lion curled up at his side, her tail wrapped around his knees. The bed was narrow and Shiro had to cuddle closer to her to avoid falling off, but he didn’t mind. She was warm, and he reached out with his flesh hand, hesitantly petting her back, marvelling at the tautness of her muscles under the silky fur. Black purred, the sound reverberating on the mattress and deep inside his chest and mind. She nuzzled his face, her whiskers tickling his cheek, and he let out a soft laugh that was totally _not_ a giggle.

Was it weird that he felt safe with a magical sentient space lion that may or may not be the avatar of an ancient, powerful deity lying on bed with him? Maybe. But he had the odd certainty that she wouldn’t hurt him nor let anything bad happen to his team.

Shiro yawned. Perhaps he _did_ need to rest a bit. His eyelids felt heavy, and Shiro closed his eyes. Less than five ticks later, he was deeply asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to talk, my Tumblr is rukia-g.


End file.
